THE MANSE GARDEN. 247 



ing a gallop, or marveling at a gun-lock, with longing 

 eye to the possession, but with no liking to the labour 

 that might purchase the manly toy. 



So constituted, a boy cannot fall into worse hands 

 than those of the minister, or enter upon work he is 

 more reluctant to than his. On the farm the crack 

 of the whip is music to his ear ; the assemblage of 

 labourers, the jibe, and the jest, have the liveliness 

 of a camp ; whilst the yoking and unyoking of horses, 

 the plunging of one unbroken to the yoke, and the 

 upsetting of a cart, are a perfect Waterloo to his 

 soul; and being there under authority, he is also 

 surrounded with examples, which rouse his ambition, 

 or soothe the toils of the day. But the scene is 

 different at the manse : the boy works alone, if he 

 work at all ; he is depressed by solitude, and the 

 eye of his master is seldom upon him ; he hates his 

 task, arid spends his time in thinking which of a 

 thousand lies will serve the best for an excuse. It 

 ought to be a serious consideration with ministers, 

 that boys, bringing to the manse the seeds of corrup- 

 tion, should find there the best soil on which to sow 

 them, and the best leisure for tending their growth. 

 And this they will do if not narrowly watched, and 

 submitted to a treatment answerable to their nature ; 

 and freely it may be asserted, that neither catechising, 

 nor reading the Bible, nor family prayer, will ever 

 produce the least salutary effect, if idleness be allowed 

 and lies go unpunished. Let the reflection be added, 

 that as six months are the probable period of an ill- 

 doer's service, it may happen that the minister, in 

 the course of his life, has sent out to the world half 

 a hundred youths, who at the manse have been en- 



